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Tribune Annual Meeting Celebrates 2002
Performance, Excellence in Journalism
Shareholders
Re-elect Board Members, Ratify Auditors, Recognize Employee
Contributions
Board Declares $.11 per Share Quarterly Dividend
CHICAGO, May 7, 2003 --
Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB) executives highlighted last year’s
strong financial performance, celebrated journalism and recognized
employee contributions at the company’s 2003 Annual
Meeting of Shareholders held yesterday in Chicago.
"Last year was an outstanding year for
Tribune Company," said Dennis FitzSimons, Tribune president
and chief executive officer. "We achieved record earnings
per share of $1.87 excluding special items, operating cash
flow grew 20 percent to $1.5 billion and total return to shareholders
was 23 percent. These results reflect the strength and resiliency
of our media businesses and our major market strategy."
The meeting also paid tribute to Tribune journalists covering
the war in Iraq. In a live satellite interview from Baghdad,
Newsday reporter Matthew McAllester and photographer
Moises Saman discussed their imprisonment in Baghdad for eight
days during the war. In addition, shareholders recognized
the five Pulitzer Prizes awarded last month to Tribune journalists
at the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun,
and Chicago Tribune.
The company presented its highest honors to
several employees. The Tribune Management Award was presented
to Paul Fleishman, vice president of marketing at Newsday.
Under Fleishman’s leadership, the marketing team at
Newsday has achieved industry-wide acclaim for innovation
and creativity. Fleishman developed the blueprint for Newsday’s
"Young Readers" program designed to foster readership
among elementary and high school students. He has also led
Newsday’s cross-promotion and cross-media efforts.
The Tribune Values Award was presented to a
team from KTLA-TV, the Los Angeles Times and Tribune Media
Net. Jymm Adams, Gordon Peppars and Rich Segal of KTLA; Deborah
Albright, Sheri Wish and David Young of the Los Angeles Times
and Donna Stokley of Tribune Media Net helped to more than
double Tribune’s multimedia advertising revenue last
year in Los Angeles.
The company presented a special journalism award to Chicago
Tribune reporters Steve Mills and Maury Possley for a three-year
long series of stories focusing on the flaws in Illinois’
criminal justice system. Their stories eventually helped free
several innocent men from death row and changed the nature
of the debate regarding Illinois’ death penalty.
"Through their aggressive reporting and
painstaking research, Mills and Possley exposed serious issues
affecting the Illinois criminal justice system," said
FitzSimons. "Their outstanding work truly personifies
locally-focused public interest journalism."
FitzSimons also announced that the Tribune Journalism Award
would be presented annually at the shareholders meeting.
In other business at the meeting, shareholders
elected FitzSimons, Betsy Holden, Robert Morrison and William
Stinehart, Jr., to the board of directors for three-year terms
expiring in 2006, and ratified the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers
as independent accountants for the company in 2003.
At a regularly scheduled board of directors
meeting held prior to the annual meeting, the Tribune board
declared a quarterly dividend of $.11 per share of common
stock. The dividend will be paid on June 12, 2003, to shareholders
of record at the close of business on May 29, 2003.
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TRIBUNE (NYSE:
TRB) is one of the country’s premier media companies,
operating businesses in broadcasting, publishing and on the
Internet. It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households,
and is the only media company with television stations, newspapers
and Web sites in the nation’s top three markets. In
publishing, Tribune operates 12 market-leading daily newspapers
such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday
plus a wide range of targeted publications including Spanish-language
newspapers. In broadcasting, Tribune properties include 26
television stations and Superstation WGN on national cable.
These publishing and broadcasting interests are complemented
by high-traffic news and information Web sites in 20 of the
nation’s top 30 markets.
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